Trade in Green Goods

Posted on: 22/03/2014

At the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos the following WTO members issued a joint statement launching an initiative to liberalise global trade in green goods: EU, US, China, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Switzerland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Costa Rica. The Davos announcement proposes negotiations based on the Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC) Agreement of 2012 which limits tariffs on 54 groups of products of green goods to no more than 5%. It will seek to expand membership further, widen the scope of goods covered, deepen the tariff cuts and provide flexibility to potentially add services and address technology standards issues which may hinder trade.

The UK fully supports this initiative and wants to see an ambitious agreement with as many countries as possible. Such an agreement would complement our efforts in the UN climate negotiations to deliver a credible deal in Paris in 2015 and scale up the use of low carbon technologies where the UK is a global leader.

International Trade Up-dates into your inbox twice a month

What to keep up to date on customs and international trade issues – subscribe to our OneCall service which combines regular practical updates (Did You Know?) and a helpline support service. MORE INFORMATION